“That is a legitimate issue for us to look at,” said the governor of Wisconsin.

Yes, we need to keep out those criminal Canadian hosers, with their strange speech patterns and odd cuisine and propensity for making our womenfolk laugh. Go back to Canada!

Donald Trump opened the right wing’s xenophobia flood gates, and there’s seemingly no end to the bad craziness pouring through. I think we need to build a wall between the Republican Party and the White House.

A fucking wall between us and Canada, our biggest trading partner, our staunch ally in WW2, the people who gave us The Guess Who, Neil Young, Bryan Adams, Alanis Morrisette and Justin Bieber? ... Ok - The Gadfly admits it -- for that little arrogant shit head Bieber The Gadfly would happily build a wall. But seriously -- what the fuck kind of brain eating amoeba has infected conservative Republicans?

What is their major malfunction?

Ok - The Gadfly gets that Trump has PT Barnum style stormed his way to the front of the polls and the rest of the clown car clowns are trying to keep up with him and some of them feel the need to out-crazy him in the effort to attract the crazies in the party --- but Canada is our enemy now too?? For fucking real Scotty?

The Gadfly has become convinced that the only wall that needs to be built is a wall of incredulity around each of these GOP candidates as they continue down the path to condemning the Republican brand to the ash heap of political history with their histrionic xenophobia and gutless and amoral appeals to the hateful neanderthal crowd in this country.

Enough fucking already. The Gadfly would gladly listen to the policy positions of a sane GOP candidate, but apparently there aren't any sane GOP candidates. And yes -- that is sad.

According to a 1990 Vanity Fair interview, Ivana Trump once told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that her husband, real-estate mogul Donald Trump, now a leading Republican presidential candidate, kept a book of Hitler's speeches near his bed.

"Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed ... Hitler's speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist," Marie Brenner wrote.

Hitler was one of history's most prolific orators, building a genocidal Nazi regime with speeches that bewitched audiences.

"He learned how to become a charismatic speaker, and people, for whatever reason, became enamored with him," Professor Bruce Loebs, who has taught a class called the Rhetoric of Hitler and Churchill for the past 46 years at Idaho State University, told Business Insider earlier this year.

"People were most willing to follow him, because he seemed to have the right answers in a time of enormous economic upheaval."

Oh snap! . . . ok . . . The Gadfly acknowledges that was probably not the best example he could have come up with to defend The Great Donald from being associated with mindless hero worship on the scale of Nazism.

So then --- let's look at the facts --- Adolf Hitler was a charismatic, narcissistic, jive talking, slogan spewing, lying con artist who was able to tap in to the deep seated, misguided hatred that many of his countrymen held toward a certain subset of people in Germany (Jews, immigrants, liberals), and actually convince his followers that those groups were entirely responsible for Germany's economic maladies and that he, Der Fuhrer, was the best, most qualified individual to lead their nation forward and deal with the "problem" of those "other" people.

And with that, the term "idiocracy" officially went from being the title of a satirical science fiction movie about a dystopian future America where advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and that is devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, or any coherent notions of justice and human rights -- to being present day reality.

The Gadfly actually forced his self to watch all 10+ minutes of this clip, at great peril to his own sanity. The only thing The Gadfly can say is that it was very much the equivalent of viewing an extended scene from one of those nature documentaries depicting a couple of chimpanzees sitting together and meticulously grooming each other.

The Gadfly's brain hurts after watching that. And there's only one thing that can cure that kind of brain hurt . . . . .

Thursday, August 27, 2015

To the conservatives - The Gadfly and many, many others tried to tell you lame-brained dipshits a few years ago what a vile, bigoted scumbag and a pathetic excuse for a human being George Zimmerman was. What more evidence do you need at this point?

George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed an unarmed black teen in 2012 but was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, took to social media this week to call President Barack Obama an "ignorant baboon."

Zimmerman made the comment in a series of tweets posted on Wednesday and Thursday while referencing the shooting deaths of two journalists on live television.

Earlier this year, Zimmerman complained that Obama had turned Americans against him, referring specifically to when the president said in 2012, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

Obama was referring to Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old slain by Zimmerman earlier that year.

Zimmerman, who most recently made headlines by selling prints of a Confederate Flag painting to benefit a "Muslim-free" gun store, even posted what appeared to be a not-so-veiled reference to Martin, calling the deceased teen a "moron."

Zimmerman fancies himself cute for calling the 17 year old that he murdered a "moron."

Of course, Trayvon Martin is unable to defend himself because this is what George Zimmerman did to him:

That was the death sentence that George Zimmerman unilaterally assigned to a 17 year old kid - all for the crime of walking - on a rainy night, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, carrying a bag of candy and iced tea - in George Zimmerman's neighborhood.

The Gadfly (who for the record is a white male) has a 17 year old, dearly loved grandson whose skin color isn't too many shades lighter than Trayvon Martin's. If George Zimmerman had done to The Gadfly's grandson what he did to Trayvon Martin -- The Gadfly assures you dear readers -- there isn't cave or a safehouse anywhere on this planet that the knuckle-dragging, cowardly piece of shit could hide out in to escape the inevitable justice that The Gadfly would visit upon his sorry fucking racist ass.

Frankly dear readers, in The Gadfly's humble opinion, and stated with the utmost, unrepentant sincerity, the kind of karma that is due George Zimmerman will surely brighten The Gadfly's outlook on life the day news of it arrives on his news feed.

Oh - and btw - fuck the state of Florida and it's idiot politicians whose insane gun laws allowed this miserable motherfucker to walk free while the cold corpse of a 17 year old who had his whole life ahead of him rots in a grave.

Charles Pierce at Esquire online made note of today's on-air assassination of two television journalists in Virginia by noting on his blog that the event marks the "end of American exceptionalism.":

The Virginia TV Shooting and the End of American Exceptionalism

Today's events are a horrifying example of the way we live now.

A news crew, doing a completely ordinary happy-face morning feature at a mall get blown away on camera. If this had happened in Somalia, we'd have a lot of earnest talk about the dangers of a failed society. If it had happened in Syria, Lindsey Graham might liquefy entirely and disappear in a rush down a storm drain. But it happened here, in the exceptional home of American exceptionalism, so, once again, we will be told that Alison Parker and Adam Ward are merely more of the price we pay for the exceptional exceptionalism of a free society.

The Gadfly, with all due respect to the venerable Mr. Pierce, politely disagrees and would suggest that that particular boat sailed in the days, weeks, months and years after December 14, 2012, a fateful day when a mentally unstable young man sauntered in to a grade school in Newtown, Connecticut, armed to the teeth, and slaughtered a bunch of elementary school children and several adult school staff members in a hail of 2nd amendment exceptionalism. After that heinous incident, precisely what exceptional steps did America take to seriously address the issue of gun proliferation and gun violence in this country? Not a fucking thing. In fact, since that godawful date, several states, under the control of conservative controlled legislatures have drastically loosened gun possession laws and, unbelievably, passed laws in many states make it perfectly legal for any Yosemite Sam wannabe to strut around in public venues openly carrying loaded weaponry.

So no Mr. Pierce, the unfortunate killings this morning did not signify the end of American exceptionalism. The ignominious end of that load of manufactured, narcissistic horse shit occurred after a nation of cowards, led by equally cowardly political leaders, gazed upon the bullet shredded corpses of 20 first and second graders and their teachers in a classroom and turned a blind eye to the horror and went on with life as if it was just something that we all need to put up with -- if only so that a bunch of goddamned, lame-brained gun fetish kooks can get a hard on pretending that they are freedom fighters against tyranny.

And that is about all that The Gadfly has to say about this dismal subject.

When Clem O'Connor walked into the Taco Bell in his town for the first time, he was greeted with words, smells and tastes that offended him to his core. Though someone's taste buds being offended in Taco Bell is nothing new, what made The Political Garbage Chute reach out to Clem was the reason for his outrage, and the campaign he's started because of that outrage. O'Connor is convinced that Taco Bell is "an agent working for the Mexican government" and they are "infiltrating American culture one Cheesy Gordita Crunch at a time." So Clem wants Taco Bell run out of his small Tennessee town, and he's petitioned everyone from his local city council on up to the governor of the state to have the fast food chain thrown out of Hazard for good.

"You know there isn't a single hamburger to be found on Taco Bell's menu," Clem asked our interviewer rhetorically while adding, "there is nothing more American than a hamburger. So I have to ask, what is about America that Taco Bell hates?"

O'Connor says that he's "not racist at all" but that he "just know[s] that you can't have a huge welfare state and let any Tom, Dick or Jose in the country" even though he also says he "understands that undocumented people can't get Federal and most state benefits." O'Connor says that his fight against Taco Bell is symbolic as a "struggle against the silent invasion from the South." When shown immigration statistics that prove no major influx of Mexican immigrants is coming into the country, O'Connor told us "it's the principle of the thing" and "just because it's one way today don't mean it won't be another way tomorrow."

Somebody should pull ol' Clem aside and bring him up to speed on that Google thingy.

The founder of Taco Bell is a fellow by the name of Glen Bell ("Bell" -- hint, hint). He was a WWII U.S. Marine veteran who after the war started up some hot dog and hamburger stands in southern California. He eventually added tacos to his menu along with other Tex-Mex offerings and eventually spun off that part of his food chain which ultimately begat the first Taco Bell restaurant in 1964.

Simply put - Taco Bell is about as solidly Americana as you could possibly fucking fathom.

But conservative idiots like ol' Clem here aren't about to let reality and the truth get in the way of an opportunity to jump on the Trump immigrant bashing bandwagon - aka the Xenophobe Express. Nosiree.

They are just itching to blame all of this country's woes on the brown people, and yet never for a minute does the thought cross their tiny, feverish minds that the brown people, most especially the undocumented ones, hold absolutely no power of any kind over the economic and political policies of this country. All of that kind of power lies in the hands of the people just like the assclown who they are presently smitten with and fawning over with puppy dog eyes - yes - The Gadfly is referring to this horse's ass:

And it is that asshole and his plutocratic ilk who have orchestrated the death spiral of the middle-class, further indentured the working poor to lives of unrewarding hard labor, and cynically rigged the financial, legal and political systems in this country lopsidedly in their favor. It is they who are the true perpetrators of the socio-economic misery that these right wing, conservative dipshits are bitching and moaning so much about.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes really nails what's going on here:

I want to talk about what we are seeing unfold here because I think what we are seeing is past the point of a clown show or a parody. I believe it is much more serious and much darker…You have someone now who is getting huge crowds, who is polling at the top of the GOP field, who polls show is beating Jeb Bush by 44 to 12 percent on the issue of immigration, going around the country calling little children, newborn babies, anchor babies saying that he’s going to use that term which I find a dehumanizing and disgusting term. Talking about giving the local police the ability to “do whatever they need to do to round up” the “illegals”. Building a wall, talking about basically chasing 11 million people out, talking about deporting American citizens to “keep families together”, talking about what would essentially be the largest most intrusive police state in the history of the American republic to go about this task, that is the person that is right now at the head of the Republican party’s presidential contest.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

A Boston man allegedly told police that he beat and urinated on a homeless man early Wednesday because the man was Hispanic, citing real estate mogul Donald Trump's comments on undocumented immigrants as justification for the attack.

In response, the Republican presidential candidate said that "it would be a shame" if his anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric inspired the beating. He immediately pivoted from the mild condemnation to praising his "passionate" supporters' commitment to restoring America to greatness.

Trump was asked Wednesday night at a campaign stop in New Hampshire whether he was concerned about inciting violence with his stump speeches, according to The Boston Herald. The billionaire said he hadn't heard about the attack, adding that he thought it "would be a shame."

"I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate," he continued, as quoted by the Herald. "They love this country. They want this country to be great again. But they are very passionate. I will say that.”

So The Great Donald, who when advised that his immigrant bashing rhetoric inspired the senseless, brutal and cowardly attack by two of his goose-stepping followers on a sleeping homeless man, just because his skin was brown, simply shrugs his shoulders and basically states, "meh . . . yeah, dat's too bad, but hey - my followers sure are passionate ain't they?" (Gadfly's translation of Trump's reaction).

Like Ben Carson who just couldn't muster up the moral courage and human integrity to say no when asked if he would consider using drones to drop missiles on unsuspecting immigrants coming across the border, The Great Donald is incapable of calling a despicable, cowardly act just that, even when knowing that the people who committed the act claim they were inspired by Trump's own words.

The Gadfly just sits back and truly wonders just how far down the rabbit hole of hateful, bigoted, right wing fascism that Trump and the rest of the GOP xenophobes and sorry excuses for human beings are going to lead their brain-dead, cult followers. Let us fervently hope there will be no need to find out the answer to that chilling question.

On Wednesday morning, Carson responded to a question about whether he would be open to the possibility of drone strikes on American soil to secure the border. "The take home point is this. We have excellent military leaders," he said. "We need to employ their expertise because this is a war we are fighting. That's the bottom line."

Look out, El Paso. Sometimes, mistakes are made. Sorry about that junior high that used to be there.

There really isn't anywhere for any of them to go now, short of nuking Juarez. You're up, Governor Jindal.

So simply put, Ben Carson, when asked his view on the idea of the U.S. government deploying drones to missile strike immigrants crossing the border, by completely sidestepping the question, basically believes that it is a viable option to keep under consideration. The Gadfly states this, because a sane, thoughtful, and humane person would not have spent a nano-second contemplating the thought of it before stating an unequivocal "NO!"

And never mind the fact that 80% of illegal immigrants coming across our southern border resemble this crowd:

Apparently, the willingness to drop bombs on women and children isn't a disqualifying personal character trait for those who are seeking political leadership positions within the conservative movement. On the contrary - such a position likely heightens their prospects for electoral success and quick advancement in the party ranks.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Gadfly really doesn't need to expend a great deal of effort in order to come up with shit to mock the right wing gun goons with. Usually their own words and actions in and of them self create comedy material much more superior than what any professional satirist could conjure up. Observe:

OKTAHA, Oklahoma -

The Muskogee County sheriff said a member of the group guarding an Oktaha gun shop accidentally shot himself Tuesday.

Sheriff Charles Pearson said the man dropped his gun and a bullet hit him in the arm. The sheriff did not identify the man or offer any other details about what happened.

The group of armed citizens and veterans is standing guard outside the Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gear store after the owners said they received death threats from all over the world for putting up a sign saying Muslims weren't welcome.

"I saw several of those gentlemen out there yesterday," Pearson said. "The way they were holding their weapons, with the fingers on the triggers, you can tell a couple of these gentlemen have no idea about weapons safety. It's like the Clampetts have come to town," Sheriff Pearson told muskogeenow.com.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Allow The Gadfly to make something unambiguously clear here - The Gadfly is not going to stop talking about this freak clown show known as Donald Trump until Trump's presidential ambitions and his campaign are resting comfortably at the bottom of the dust bin of American political history where they rightfully belong.

So on that note -- did you know that The Donald has a yoooooooooooge! "plan" to solve America's immigration problems?

Oh but he does dear readers - and it's nothing short of Donald magic:

Donald Trump has actually released an immigration policy plan, which is more than any of the other candidates have done.

Trump insists he’s going to build a gigantic impenetrable wall along the southern border, and he’s going to make Mexico pay for it.

Trump plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and he plans to implement this insane scheme by tripling the number of ICE agents, presumably because he’s going to need a lot of enforcers to round up all the families he needs to deport.

And last but pretty damned far from least, Trump says he’s basically going to either repeal or ignore the 14th amendment to the US Constitution, because he’s planning to end birthright citizenship. His plan doesn’t spell out exactly how he’d accomplish this, probably because he knows it’s never going to happen in the real world.

In fact, none of this is ever going to happen in the real world, and if Trump becomes president and actually tries to make it happen, it would involve turning the United States into a full-blown police state.

The man is batshit bonkers. And The Gadfly doesn't give a flying fuck if 24% of the electorate believes this clown's bombastic proclamations of how he, The Great Donald, is going to unilaterally, and presumably, entirely within his first 4 year term, fix all of this country's societal ills just by yelling at people and ordering them to do as he says. The people who are buying unquestioningly in to Trump's psychotic ramblings truly are just as, or even more, batshit bonkers than he is. And the mainstream media, who are facilitating this yoooooooooooge! unfunny joke on the American people should be fucking ashamed and ought never to be trusted in any sense, on any issue of national importance, ever again.

Humor The Gadfly here dear readers and allow him to make a few observations about The Great Donald's magnificent, well thought out, immigration "plan."

First off --- the "gigantic impenetrable wall." The U.S./Mexico border is 2,000 miles in length. The terrain is not all flat land across every one of those 2,000 miles - there are canyons, mountains, rivers and lakes. There are also some fairly good sized cities right on the border line, as well as a lot of privately owned property. Can someone, anyone explain to The Gadfly (preferably someone with some real-world engineering knowledge, how this purportedly uninterrupted wall is going to be built to provide end-to-end coverage of the border over such a diverse terrain? And how big exactly is "gigantic" in Trump's world view? If it's as big as his mouth and his ego, The Gadfly would have to surmise that that wall has to be a minimum of 20 stories tall. And let's not forget "impenetrable!" Does that imply a wall which has been manufactured out of pure titanium, 50 feet thick, with it's base buried another 50 -100 feet below the surface to discourage tunnelers? And Mexico is going to pay for it ALL huh?? The Gadfly assumes that means them paying not only for the building of the "gigantic impenetrable wall," but also the ongoing costs of staffing to guard it and the maintenance and upkeep of it. It took the Chinese 200 years to build The Great Wall of china -- but The Great Donald is going to do it in 4-8 years, and it ain't going to cost Americans a single penny. Seriously.

Secondly --- The Great Donald says he is going to round up and deport the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants that are currently living, and in the vast majority of cases, gainfully working in the U.S., even if those immigrants have parents born in this country or are themselves parents of children born in this country (aka U.S. citizens). Quite the conundrum no? Ahh, but The Great Donald has a plan for that little problem too - he is just going to repeal the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (all by his self apparently) or simply ignore it (there's a word for that btw - and they used to hang people for it) and build up a government army of filthy immigrant trackers and rounder uppers who will march in to battle against the gardeners and janitors and tomato pickers and nannies of America and root them all out in the name of truth, justice and the Trumpian way! All hail The Great Donald!

Lastly --- to the morons who think this man's plan actually makes sense .... honestly people ... .... if you truly believe that Donald Trump is going to round up 12 million people and forcefully deport them, build a 2,000 mile "impenetrable" wall along the U.S./Mexico border, all while bulldozing the U.S. Constitution, and accomplish it all on a 3rd world country's dime, well ... .... The Gadfly begs you to seek psychological counseling, and the quicker, the better, because a sane mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Ok ... so while the current GOP presidential poll leader Donald Trump keeps the useless mainstream media in this country mesmerized like a cat with a laser pointer red dot, the American corporotocracy continues it's never-ending crime spree against the American people:

Banks, of all companies, are expected to get the math right. But in at least one case, the numbers didn’t add up for hundreds of thousands of customers — and that cost depositors millions of dollars.

Citizens Bank agreed to refund at least $14 million and pay $20.5 million in fines for shortchanging customers who made mistakes on their deposit slips, federal regulators said Wednesday.

The bank engaged in “shoddy practices that deprived consumers of money that was rightfully theirs,” said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

From January 2008 to September 2012, Citizens Bank investigated and fixed errors only if the discrepancy was more than $50. From October 2012 to November 2013, the bank lowered that threshold to $25.

The failure to fix errors violated the bank’s own promise in account disclosures to verify deposits, Cordray said.

“The bank chose to ignore these discrepancies and harmed many consumers by pocketing the difference,” said Cordray, whose agency was alerted to the problem by a whistle-blower.

Citizens Bank, which operates in the Northeast and Midwest, said that its practices for dealing with mathematical errors “could have been better.”

The bankster's excuse, after being caught in the crime was basically, oops! our mistake . . . we "could have been better."

This reminds The Gadfly of the late great blogger bartcop's law which states: Any time a person or entity makes a "mistake" that puts extra money (or power) in their pocket, expect them to make that "mistake" again and again and again.

Allow The Gadfly to dissect this for you dear readers.

A major banking institution, over a 5 year period of time, knew that customers were making errors on their deposit slips, errors basically shorting their own deposits, and the bank, instead of correcting the errors and notifying these customers of their errors, pocketed the mistaken difference and said nary a peep about it until a whistle-blower reported them to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Holy fucking wow!

Here we have a case of a major financial institution outright and knowingly stealing money from it's customers in broad goddamn daylight, over several years period of time. And they damn well would have gotten away with it if an insider hadn't fingered them. But does this story even register so much as a 10 second mention on your mainstream tv or cable news? No. Why? Because your wonderful media has decided that the story of who Donald Trump is going to insult next is a much higher priority "news" story than anything else.

What is truly stunning in this story here is that this bank, at one point determined that maybe they were being just a bit too greedy by stealing upwards of $50 on deposit slip errors, so they dropped the maximum theft amount down to $25 - in other words, they actually were of the view that stealing less money from their customers than they were somehow exonerates their criminal behavior in total.

What is even sadder about this sordid story is that there will be no criminal prosecutions of the bank's CEO or corporate officers who knew of, and by their silence, were accessories to the criminal behavior. Nosiree .. for everyone knows that in the Plutocratic States of America only the poor and downtrodden go to jail for stealing. There's no telling how many millions they made off of interest on the stolen money or by investing it in the criminal playground of Wall Street. And that fine that was levied? Hell - that chump change will simply be written off on the bank's year end tax filing as a cost of doing business.

Oh - and let's not forget that if it weren't for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) going after these crooks, they would have gotten clean away with the heist. And it also needs to be noted that everyone of the Republican candidates for President has vowed to do away with the CFPB if they are elected - which should - in a sane world - be evidence enough demonstrating their manifest unfitness for higher office.

But this is the America that the oligarchs and plutocrats have always dreamed would be theirs dear readers - one where they can plunder and pillage with impunity. And the Citizens United decision by the black robed co-conspirators on the SCOTUS which declared that corporate entities have the same rights that you and The Gadfly have as individual humans and citizens, has only enabled their zeal to further consolidate their ill-gained wealth and power.

And now, frighteningly, as we head toward the third decade of the 21st century, a large portion of the American electorate is actually enamored with the prospect of electing one of these narcissistic plutocrats to be the leader of this country, and by proxy, the face of our nation to the rest of the world. Yes - The Gadfly is referring or course to this elitist asshole:

In one sense, The Gadfly wonders if maybe this self-absorbed buffoon isn't who America truly deserves. Let's face it, our oligarchs and their sand box known as Wall Street were primarily responsible for the global economic collapse of 2008. And after we little people suckers bailed them all out, they went right back to the rigged financial system roulette and craps tables as if nothing had happened, unconcernedly leaving financially ruined lives across the globe in their wake like a category 5 hurricane. And how did we as a nation respond to it all? By praising them and pretending that they are the best of America and naively trying to convince one another that if only we would just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps just a little harder, and sacrifice more of our blood, sweat, tears and what little there is that remains of our own crumb sized portion of economic wealth to the oligarchs, then one magical day, in the magical future, we too could all be independently rich and "successful" - just like them.

Sigh . . .

Maybe George Carlin was right. Maybe it really is just better to divest one's self from the demoralizing business of caring about the impending unpleasant and cruel fate that is awaiting this country once the hubris and greed reaches it's inevitable tipping point. The Gadfly supposes that going that route wouldn't be such a difficult undertaking if it weren't for the fact that The Gadfly has children and grandchildren whom he desperately wants to see have long, happy and prosperous lives ahead of them.

And therefore, on that note, The Gadfly fights on. Because The Gadfly sincerely feels that to give up hope and to meekly surrender his destiny to the greed and avarice of these cold-blooded plutocrats and the conservative political monsters who do their bidding, is the equivalent of selling out his children's and grandchildren's futures. And The Gadfly simply could not live with himself if he were to do that.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

With all due respect to reigning, heavyweight clown champion, The Donald, it's time to take a look at another one of the mutton-headed circus freaks that has emerged from the GOP Presidential clown car:

GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is open to the idea of using federal troops and the FBI to stop women from having abortions.

"I will not pretend there is nothing we can do to stop this," Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and an outspoken social conservative, said Thursday at a campaign stop in Jefferson, Iowa.

Huckabee addressed abortion again at his next stop in Rockwell City, Iowa, where a reporter asked him whether stopping abortion would mean using federal troops or the FBI.

"We'll see if I get to be president," Huckabee said, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Umm yeah ... so how's that freedom from government tyranny thingy working out for you Tea Baggers??

Holy shit! Tea Party candidate and god-bothering former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is open to the idea of declaring martial law (because that is what it is called when you employ federal troops against your own citizenry) in this country in order to stop women from having abortions!

Nevermind the fact that the supremest court in the land has declared abortion legal (for the time being, that is), but this crazy sumbitch is ready to send in the 101st Airborne along with J. Edgar Hoover's G-Men to prevent women from engaging in a lawful act.

The Gadfly was certain that The Donald was going to be the one to make the next outrageous, out of touch with reality statement. But looks like ol' Huckaboo-boo beat him to the punch.

The Gadfly can just envision an America run by the Mike Huckabees of the world ....

.......a young woman, raped by her father or even just some random criminal, and impregnated, seeks the assistance of an abortion doctor and after failing to locate one, because they have been all imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment, she takes matters in to her own hands and decides to go to a back-alley specialist who has nothing more than a coat hanger and ibuprofen as tools of his trade. Just as the procedure begins, President Huckaboo-boo's jack-booted stormtroopers swoop on to the scene, shoot the amateur abortionist dead, grab the girl, take her away to their pro-life hospital (aka - forced birthing factory) and keep her sedated and under constant surveillance for the next several months up the moment the girl is ready to give birth, at which time the girl is dragged from her sedation cell, taken to a brightly lit, sterile room where a team of Liberty University trained obstetricians and midwives bring forth the bastard child into the world. And upon the birth, they all stand around and pray and give holy tribute to their chosen deity for the blessed event.

Two days later the young woman and her child are summarily discharged from the forced birthing facility and told to go forth and prosper in the world. The woman, who has no work, no home to return to, and no means of supporting the child begs the abortion saviors if they will help her. They all look at her with those dead, pod people eyes and just slam the door in her face. Their duty is done. They brought forth another human life in to the world. That is all that matters to them. What happens to that child going forward is none of their interest or concern.

If you ladies believe that The Gadfly is exaggerating that scenario -- well -- perhaps then The Gadfly needs to do an intervention with you. Mike Huckabee, unfunny clown that he is, and his ilk, are ratcheting up the public statements about how they want to run this country should they ever gain power. You best believe The Gadfly when he tells you tha these people are deadly fucking serious about how they want to use and abuse that power.

For anyone still harboring hope for a more socially and economically equitable future for their children and grandchildren this is not only discouraging, it is downright frightening:

Donald Trump is a brand, and his New Hampshire supporters are itching to buy it.

A Bloomberg Politics focus group of 12 Republican and independent voters who are supportive of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy shed light Wednesday night on the billionaire's swift rise to the top of the GOP field, and confirmed that his brash, “You're fired!” style and lack of experience in politics is more of an asset than a liability.

“He says it like it is,” said Jessica, a data analyst, during the focus group in the first-in-the-nation primary state, conducted by Purple Strategies at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “He speaks the truth.”

“He's willing to tell you his opinion,” Andrew, an educator, said. “So many other politicians won't take an opinion.”

Many said Trump's success in the business world appealed to them.

“Business, we need business and I like his roughness,” said Danielle, a financial-planning consultant, adding, “He's just tough, we need someone tough.”

“Donald Trump is strong,” Nick, a home inspector, said. “He carries a sentiment and frustrations that I think a lot of Americans are going through and feeling right now. He's the one that's able to articulate that, and bring those frustrations to light. I believe him when he talks.”

In a 90-minute conversation with Bloomberg Politics managing editor and With All Due Respect co-host John Heilemann, the voters, five of whom identified themselves as members of the Tea Party, were unanimous in saying that they'd learned about Trump before his entry into the presidential race. Most said they had gotten some knowledge of the billionaire through his business dealings and before his Apprentice reality-television stint.

“I was a little girl, and I didn't even know what Trump Towers were, but I knew that he was a wealthy, successful man and I remember asking my mother if I could write him a letter to ask him how he made his money,” Jessica said.

“He's like one of us. He may be a millionaire, which separates him from everybody else, but besides the money issue, he's still in tune with what everybody is wanting,” Janet, a former dog breeder, said.

Well -- except for that part where -- if one were to look at all of the available reality-based evidence -- he isn't -- then Ok.

"He's willing to tell you his opinion!"

Translation: he's an arrogant, spiteful braggart who is prone to opening his loud mouth without ever engaging what little there is of his pea-sized brain. And for that we admire him.

“I was a little girl, and I didn't even know what Trump Towers were, but I knew that he was a wealthy, successful man and I remember asking my mother if I could write him a letter to ask him how he made his money!”

Well lady, if you and your dear mother had a time travel machine, you both could go back in time and see that The Donald made his money the old fashioned, American plutocrat way -- he inherited it from his wealthy father, who it should be noted, made his fortune with the help of government programs and government business. You can forget about writing that letter now lady.

But of all of the vapid and fawning statements that these pod people made about their new BFF The Donald, this one has to be the kicker:

"Donald Trump is strong!"

To which The Gadfly's only response is:

FASTER than a speeding bullet!More POWERFUL than a locomotive!Able to LEAP tall buildings in a single bound!LOOK! Up In The Sky!It's a BIRD!It's a PLANE!It's SUPERTYCOON!Yes, it's SUPERTYCOON, strange visitor from another planetwho came to earth with powers and abilitiesFAR beyond those of mortal men!SUPERTYCOON! Who can CHANGE the course of mighty rivers,BEND steel in his bare hands;And who, disguised as Donald Trump,Ill-mannered real-estate magnate for a great Metropolitan City,fights a never-ending battle for TRUTH,JUSTICE and the AMERICAN WAY!And now another exciting episodein THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERTYCOON"!!!

Sigh....... These Trump zombie/groupies are the very same people that the late, great George Carlin was referring to when he talked about the reasons why he had given up hope for his species and specifically so for his fellow Americans:

Not much more that The Gadfly can say other than God help us all if these lunatics ever gain complete and utter control of governmental power in this country.